UTICA CITY DOMINATES TEXAS TO CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON

Utica, NY - Fans inside the Adirondack Bank Center were treated to two very different halves of soccer. The score read just 3-1 to Utica going into halftime, but the home team would pull away in the third and fourth periods. The City ended up with a 13-3 victory, sealing a spot in the postseason starting next week.

Utica didn’t wait long to get things going. It would only take rookie Meny Silva four minutes to break the deadlock for the home side. The forward showed some breathtaking skills, using a roulette to take the ball past goalkeeper Joal Barroso. Just over a minute later, the City would double its lead. Following an Outlaws turnover, Jose Tavares fired home a quick shot to give Utica a 2-0 lead. However, Texas would find an answer right before the buzzer. VcMor Eligwe took advantage of a few Utica mistakes and gave the visitors a goal before the end of the first period. Neither side could change the scoreline after that as both teams took a break with the scoreboard reading 2-1 in favor of the home team.

The second quarter started with another answer for Utica. Vini Dantas followed home his own rebound just 20 seconds in, extending the lead to two. The rest of the period was a goalkeeping clinic. Despite six more shots on goal from both teams, neither squad was able to find the back of the net. The goal drought meant that Utica went into the half with a narrow 3-1 lead over Texas.

While the second period might’ve been low scoring, the third period was much different. Vini opened the floodgates with some strong hold up play. The forward grabbed himself a brace after rolling his defender and slotting home a tight finish from the right side. It took a little bit of time, but the lead eventually became four to Utica. Babaro Shelier cut in from the right flank and fired home a rocket past Barroso to make the score 5-1 in favor of the City. Texas would then stop the Utica run after a deflected effort got the better of Andrew Taylor, bouncing into the net. Exactly 30 seconds later, Shelier would restore the four goal advantage, finishing off a sleek counter-attack to give Utica a 6-2 lead. The advantage would be five after Nilton De Andrade caught Barroso off guard with a quick effort. After the dust settled on the third period, Utica found themselves with a 7-2 lead headed into the fourth quarter.

It would be Gordy Gurson to open the scoring in the fourth. The forward extended his goal streak to five games with a tidy finish. Then following a goal by Texas defender Suriel Arauz, De Andrade kept the goals flowing for Utica. On the power play, the midfielder found the top corner to make the score 9-3 in favor of the home team. The positive vibes kept on coming for Utica, with Vini grabbing his third goal of the game. The forward grabbed his hat-trick with some more good hold up play. With just under two minutes left, Utica would tack on some more insurance goals through Shelier and Mershad Ahmadi, making the final score 13-3 in favor of the City.

With the win, Utica is headed to San Diego for the MASL Ron Newman Cup from April 4th-6th. Stay tuned to UCFC social media for updates on game times. Tickets for all playoff matches can be purchased at frontwavearena.com